THIRTY ONE: ISSUE 21

THE

powernote from e dna

Dear Friend,

As we look forward to what God has in store for us in this fresh new Kingdom season, our hearts are full of gratitude for the path that He’s taken us on since we started our Mentoring journey.

Let’s take a look back:

In our early years of ministry, we had a thriving teaching ministry called, Women of Worth, where we equipped ladies with the Word of God. It worked well and reached many, but there was still that sense that we were missing a piece of the puzzle.

I have always placed a very high premium on authentic relationships as they have the power to influence and shape our lives. One of my biggest challenges in life and ministry was the fact that relationships are both the biggest source of pain and pleasure. We always have the option to continue or disconnect.

I believe it’s very easy to be godly in isolation. As long as everything keeps going my way, I’m the perfect Christian.

Photography: Ruth Pasques

Jesus and I...what a winning combination! But once you start adding people to the equation, it’s a different story.

God is relational, He so loved the world that He sent Jesus. He made us with the capacity for a relationship with Him and each other. And He gave us the means to do it. He poured out His love in our hearts and gave us the mandate to go and do the same.

When I started mentoring 12 ladies in 1999, I had no idea that it would become an empowering tool of transformation to produce Christlikeness through an intentional relationship with Him and one another.

Me2 Mentoring multiplied, transforming countless lives across cultures and continents, pointing us back to the relentless intentional transforming love of God in and through us.

He is so faithful and so kind!

Me2mentoring has borne beautiful fruit in many lives as we embraced it as a Kingdom lifestyle.

So, why change something that works?

Over the past few years, the controversial international Me2 movement caused confusion when people searched for us online and got directed to the wrong Me2 links and presumed we were in the same camp.

So after much prayer and deliberation, we’ve decided to lay the old Me2mentoring brand to rest

and we’re embracing our new identity as ME+YOU mentoring.

Our values and who we are doesn’t change! It’s a fresh new season: Father is calling us into a deeper relationship with Him.

He is saying, “It’s ME+YOU, my girl!” He wants our full attention. My response is “ Yes! ME+YOU God!”

We believe that out of this intimacy, we will find Our Place Our Purpose and Our Voice afresh as we reach out to one another: ME+YOU

So - Welcome to the fresh new season where we kick off as ME+YOU

A woman whose life gets transformed by God influences a family from the inside out and ultimately changes a nation, one family at a time.

May God continue to transform us to look more like Him and diffuse His fragrance, as the Culture of His Kingdom becomes a practical reality that we live out relationally, rather than an ideal that we aspire to.

Much Love

Edna

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IN “OTHER” INDICATE: THIRTY ONE OR ME+YOU MENTORING

GOD’S WORK ON DISPLAY

TESTIMONY DEFINITION: EVIDENCE IN SUPPORT OF A FACT OR STATEMENT; PROOF.

The word testimony in Hebrew is ‘Aydooth’, which means ‘do it again with the same power and authority’ Every time we speak out or read a testimony, we are saying, Lord, ‘do it again’ with the same power and authority. If God can do it for you, He can do it for me!

My Testimony as far as I can recall, I always had a God consciousness.

I grew up in a religious home, read the Bible and went to Church, even though I had an unhealthy image of God as an authoritarian God that watches our every move and punishes our sins.

I was born again at the age of 16, a joyful experience, but I tried to maintain and earn my salvation through good works. I was saved but set up to fail as I had no discipleship or a Jesus-loving community to show me the way! By the time I went to university, I was living quite a compartmentalized life. There was a do-as-youlike box and an up-to-date repentance box in case Jesus returned, and I wasn’t ready!

I was saved for sure, but I lived life on my own terms.

Searching for identity in all the wrong places, I found that lasting satisfaction was elusive and self-acceptance depended on being in with the right crowd and the ever-fading applause of my last performance. Relationships were unsafe, and though I loved people, I feared rejection and withheld my heart.

Fast forward to the end of my university years, sitting in a club with my friends, bored, cynical and questioning the meaning of life, I had a silent conversation with God.

“God, there must be more to life than this. Show me if you’re real.”

There was no reply, but within the following weeks, my life changed radically. Things started to go wrong. My steady relationship broke up. I wrote my final exams and did not pass everything! (a first for me that filled me with shame). My friendships fell apart, and the list goes on.

In February of 1984, a friend insisted that I meet a colleague of her husband. I firmly declined, but my curiosity got the better of me. She invited me, and he ‘happened’ to drop by.

One thing led to another, and by the end of that week, Louis Els invited me out, shared the gospel with me over a steak, and introduced me to my first spirit-filled Church experience. It all set me up for encountering Jesus personally.

Once I encountered Jesus and fell in love with Him, Jesus totally transformed me. His Lordship became my delight in contrast to the burden of good performance for approval that I’d previously carried!

His grace and kindness are forever fingerprinted all over my life.

In January 1985, Louis and I married and moved to Jeffreys Bay. We were excited about the move, as we knew there was a calling on our lives, and JBay was the next step of obedience.

Soon we were involved in ministry, and life became complicated as we tried to navigate marriage, children and leading people whilst running three businesses. We were out of our depth. My self-protection mechanism kicked in, “Fake it till you make it”, and “hide behind layers of pretense so that no one will know you’re not coping.“

Perfectionism. Performance. Loneliness. Isolation. Brick by brick, I built high walls around my soft heart.

The Turning Point:

One evening at a Christmas function, a wellmeaning friend asked me a random question, “Edna, how does it feel to be so perfect? “

If she was trying to be mean or sarcastic, I could’ve shrugged off the question, but her sincerity cut through my defences and caused me to question my authenticity.

It was a challenging stage of my life, with two small children and a life that was overcommitted and out of balance in many areas.

I longed for genuine relationships where I could be myself and be loved regardless, where people could know the worst of me and still choose to believe the best of me and vice versa.

God heard my cry and answered my prayers.

“ Be the friend you’d like to have, sow seeds of friendship, and know that people will let you down, just as you are bound to disappoint others”. I chose to re-engage in life-giving relationships, letting down my guard and leaving the safety of my self-inflicted isolation.

I firmly believe that relationships are a crucial issue in life; the rest is just details. Our relationship with God and others determine the quality of our lives more than our standard of living.

God used the debris of rejection and unsafe friendships to birth a passion in me for authentic relationships that glorify God.

We become more like Him as we allow others to speak His Truth into our lives, as we keep one another accountable to His Word.

Scary? Yes! Easy? No!

Relationships entail a journey of walking together through the highs and lows of life! Sometimes it gets crowded and complicated, but He is the One who is our constant companion, helping us to navigate rocky terrain through Love, Acceptance and Forgiveness.

Whether you see yourself as an introvert or an extrovert, your divine design requires intentional relationships to shape the Kingdom woman within you.

My Story becomes His Glory!

Revelation 12:11 KJV

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto the death.

May we become Kingdom women that love the Word, are led by the Spirit and are characterised by our love for God and others.

RUTH

PASQUES

HINDSIGHT IS A BEAUTIFUL THING

WHEN WE’RE STILL ON THE JOURNEY IT’S HARD to understand ‘why’, ‘what’, or ‘how’, but once we’ve reached the other side, turned around to see how far we’ve come and who we have become, we start to understand the why, what, and how. And then hindsight becomes a beautiful thing.

As I write this, I am standing on the other side of a ten-year journey in Jeffrey’s Bay at Victory Church, and I am blown away and awestruck at the goodness of my God.

But first, let’s go back to the beginning… to be completely honest, it’s been hard to write this and summarise all the valley and mountaintop moments I’ve had over the years.

I stumbled into Victory Gap Year at the age of 18, somewhat accidentally I had thought at the time, but then again, nothing with God is ‘by accident’. At the time, I didn’t feel too sure about myself or God; I had come out of tough family circumstances and was heading down a road of destruction and taking my friends along with me. Looking back now, I can see the hand of God over my life as I had often found myself in dangerous situations and always managed (by His grace, I realise now) to get myself out of it unscathed.

I carried a lot of heavy baggage of shame, guilt, rejection and unworthiness, but over the years, God gently worked on my heart, made me brave, and surrounded me with the right people who loved and corrected me. The word says that His kindness leads

I carried a lot of heavy baggage of shame, guilt, rejection and unworthiness, but over the years, God gently worked on my heart, made me brave

I met a community of people who have become my family and greatest cheerleaders.

us to repentance, and I found that to be true as God became personal to me and I understood His love for me.

The journey is often extremely uncomfortable, and there were so many times that I wanted to give up and run away. At times I did run away, but the desperate need for freedom, the desire to find purpose, and the determination to not allow the enemy to rob me any longer always led me back towards God’s heart and Jbay.

During my time in Jeffreys Bay, I sadly lost both my parents, my mom very suddenly in a shooting accident and five years later, my dad to a long and painful eight year battle with cancer. The mere thought of being 27 with neither parent present for all the significant life events that still lay before me, like marriage and children, would have crushed me before I met Jesus. But Jesus is so kind, and in His love softens the sting of death and gives peace that one can’t fully comprehend. During these valley moments, I fully grasped with my head and most importantly, my heart the incredible GOODNESS of God, that even in death and heartbreak, He remains and always will be so good.

There were, of course, so many mountaintop moments over the years as I discovered my love for the local expression of the church and grew in my creativity and passion for all things creative and media and had the privilege of leading the Media Department at Victory Church and the Media Stream

at Victory Gap Year. I met a community of people who have become my family and greatest cheerleaders.

In 2022, this chapter came to a sudden end as God encouraged me to ‘DREAM AGAIN’, something I had stopped doing because somewhere along the journey, I formed a deep fear of disappointment and always (without me realising) braced myself for the worst.

“God gives us the desires of our hearts” was something I thought worked for other people but not for me, and when my move to London became a reality, I realised that hindsight is, in fact, a beautiful thing because I then understood the ‘why’, ‘what’, and ‘how’. God’s timing is perfect. My ten years in Jeffrey’s Bay created an unshakable foundation for this next chapter of my life. God is more concerned with the condition of our hearts that He is with the destination we so long for.

Over time I have learnt that God waits there for us in our future. He’s a loving Father who knows the beginning from the end and always has been and always will be good.

“Make your plans fellow dreamer but don’t set them in stone for the steps He has determined and written into your story often lead far away from the course you imagined.”

VIVIAN D’AGOSTINO

GOD STEPPED INTO MY LIFE AND CHANGED EVERYTHING

I HAVE A SONG IN MY HEART AS I WRITE THIS, my story: “You won’t relent until You have it all…My heart is yours …I set You as a seal upon my heart.”

Thank you! Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share what God has done in my life.

I have walked a bumpy road full of twists and turns, mountains and valleys, and through it all, God has kept me, He has never given up on me, and He has never forsaken me. Even when I turned the wrong way and opened doors for myself that weren’t my doors to open, He has been there with me.

so sacred for His name to be glorified in our lives. God uses what’s left, what remains. I ask myself, “What will I do with the years I have left? How long am I going to let the enemy steal my joy, steal my peace, steal my future, steal the years I have left?”

I’ve been running all my life, from relationship to relationship, from job to job, city to city - I made bad decisions, walked away from God, sought acceptance from people and things that were only destructive, split up my family, ruined my marriage, hurt my partner – and then one day when it all just felt like I couldn’t go on anymore, that the things of the world could not quench the thirst in me, God brought me back. God stepped into my life and changed everything! He told me that He loved me, He told me that He’d never taken His eyes off me, He told me that I am His beloved daughter, that what I had left was enough for Him to work with. It wasn’t the time to give up, or stop hoping; it was the time to fight, to wake up and strengthen what remains. I came back to God broken, with broken pieces, a broken heart, and despite that He loves me with an everlasting love, He never stopped loving me.

I want to encourage you and remind myself that even the deepest wound, the darkest secret, the biggest mistake we’ve made, He turns into something so beautiful, so precious,

I praise God for being so faithful, powerful, and forgiving, for the healing and restoring of my heart, for strengthening me to go on, and for showing me that I still have some fight left in me. I’m His warrior; I’m His girl. I’ve been bought with a price; Jesus took the pain FOR me and let me live. I believe God for: healing my family and to break any stronghold so that my children’s children can receive the promises of God for their lives.

Thank you, Father, for restoring me, for breaking down the walls and rebuilding me, for planting me back in the House of Victory Church, for the breakthrough I received from the Divorce Care Group, and for putting me alongside friends who love me and who push me to go forward.

To the girl inside each one of us, the girl who can relate to the lie of “I’m not enough”, the girl who tells herself that things will never change and that this is how it is… well, it’s not. When God says “ I will show you, I will take your hand and lead you, I will fix the broken pieces” He means it.

We see all the trauma and the tragedy, and we say we can’t see how God can get the glory, but God says,” Take me to the unseen places and watch me take it and make it into something beautiful.”

“I will do a new thing, it will spring forth, do you not know that I am doing it in your mind, in your life, in your business - I will even make a way in the wilderness and I will cause rivers to come from the desert.”

I soar from that broken space. Not to give glory to what “happened” but to give Glory to God for bringing me out of that - don’t forget the desert even though it may have felt dark and lonely and painful, don’t forget that desert, because that is where God restores, replenishes, revives, look back on it and reflect, but just don’t stay there….. Amen.

I soar from that broken space. Not to give glory to what “happened” but to give Glory to God for bringing me out of that

feature story

MACHÉ JOUBERT

I AM MACHE JOUBERT, AND I LIVE IN DE DOORNS.

I am married to my wonderful husband Niel, and we have three children, Nielan, Lira and Juben.

I am very excited to share my story. I knew this day would come, although I actually hoped that it wouldn’t because, in a way, it feels like it is not really my story to share. Although, it did happen to me, and I was the lead character. He is the one who wrote the story, and everyone else made it happen.

Recently I listened to a teaching by Andy Stanley called “When Life Happens,” which impacted me, because “life happened” to me. At the end of the teaching, he spoke about a section in John 9:3 about the man that was born blind, and the people asked Jesus to tell them why this man was blind. Was it because he sinned, or his parents? Jesus looked at them and said: “It was so that the works of God might be displayed and illustrated in him.”

When I read this, I realised that my story happened so that God’s works may be displayed and so people could experience His miracles. It has nothing to do with me or anyone else…it’s God’s work on display. I went back and tried to remember everything that happened, listened to and read messages and realised what the theme of my story is: “God’s perfect timing.”

I love detail, so I will try and do it as shortly as possible. There are so many small things that God did and so much detail that contributed to my survival. How I made it through my time in the hospital and that I came through the time at home, and that I can sit here today, stronger than ever before, knowing that God came through for me and that He still does miracles today.

On 29 December 2019, we visited our good friends at ‘Misverstand Dam’. There was a retaining wall outside the house, the kind that you can plant plants in. They used them specifically to build stairs leading up to their deck. Throughout the weekend, we used these stairs without any concern.

I carried Juben, our youngest, who was about nine months old at the time, and when I got to the second last step, I lost my balance and realised that I was going to fall. I realised that I was probably going to get hurt and maybe have a few bruises, but besides that, I just could not allow Juben to fall because if that happened, he could get seriously hurt.

Never did I think that it would be me that got seriously injured. I was unable to stop myself from falling. The moment I hit the ground, I let go of Juben, and as I sat up, I realised I was severely injured. I looked at my husband and told him I had injured myself badly. He looked at me and said: “Mache, I know, the blood is running down your back.” Then I lost consciousness. No one could figure out what had happened at that moment, but everyone jumped to action and started helping and working together.

The first miracle of this story is the significant number of people that were available to help. Our friends’ mom is a nurse. They immediately called her, and she came to help. They got me into the car and rushed me to Piketberg Hospital because ‘Misverstand Dam’ is in a very secluded place, and the ambulance would have taken too long to arrive.

At the hospital, where there was only a junior doctor, they were struggling to get me out of the car, and

I was screaming due to the excruciating pain I was experiencing.

There was a pint of blood that was the right type, available at the hospital that day (apparently, that rarely happens), which was a miracle as I could receive it immediately.

Johan (our friend we were visiting) made many phone calls to Discovery Health (our medical aid). He explained to them the seriousness of our situation in order to get a helicopter. We were too far from critical care, and at the rate that I was losing blood I wouldn’t make it. Niel and I were recently talking about what happened, he realised that if the helicopter had not come, I would not have been here today. Another part of the miracle.

Initially we were informed that the helicopter was unable to fly at that time due to the amount of ‘air pockets’ and the strong wind that were blowing in Cape Town. But, 10 minutes later we were informed that the helicopter was on its way. Once it arrived and the paramedics took over to fly me to Christian Barnard Hospital, my husband finally had hope that everything would be okay.

I regained consciousness on the theatre table. I remember the doctor and anaesthetist standing next to me, informing me that they were about to operate. I looked at the doctor and said, “Doctor, please, I have three very small children.”

The seriousness of what was unfolding suddenly hit me. They struggled for four hours to stop the bleeding, and I received six units of blood. I’d fallen onto a rebar (a steel reinforcing bar), that was hidden upright in a shrub next to the stairs, and no one knew about it. It penetrated 20cm deep into

my body. (Niel said we should keep it as a daily reminder of my miracle.) He showed a picture of this object to the doctor, giving them a clearer picture of what happened. The rod entered my side, punctured my lung and damaged the main artery between my heart and lung. This is what caused the heavy bleeding.

I was in theatre for five hours, and after surgery, the doctor’s exact words to me were: “Mache, I stood with your one lung in my two hands, and I had a God moment.” She said that this type of injury she had only seen three times before. One patient lived for 48 hours and the other for 24 hours thereafter, so she had this moment with God asking Him what she needed to do. She decided that in my case, she would put my lung back because the probability of her having to operate and open me up again was very high, due to the rusted object that could cause infection.

I was kept under sedation for three days and when I woke up I still thought we were in 2019, although it was the 2nd of January 2020. It was quite a shock to realise that this was not over and that there was quite a road ahead of me. I was on a ventilator and it was so unbelievably tough not to be able to talk, but to see everyone around me cry because they were so happy that I was alive. Besides not talking, I was frustrated by being awake all of the time, the pain and negative emotions, on top of not being well looked after by the staff, got me to a place of shifting my focus from weekly or daily to “breath by breath” - every breath was a step closer to my victory.

One of my highlights of the month in the hospital was on the morning of my 8th day. I’d gone to

sleep feeling heartbroken and defeated, hoping someone would just come and help me. The next morning I opened my eyes, and standing before me was this beautiful blonde girl (she looked like an angel). She informed me that they would remove the ventilator, and she worked so gently with me. This caused new hope to arise within me. After removing the ventilator the process of learning to get up and walk again started. Only two days later, I walked for the first time… it was a fantastic day!

Infection set in again…. I couldn’t believe it because I was on the road to recovery, and I had just started walking. Another surgery was scheduled, I thought the extent of it would be to rinse the lung. But, they had to remove a third of my lung, as it was completely rotten due to the infection caused by the rusted object.

I woke up in excruciating pain. I couldn’t explain to the nurses what was happening as I was on a ventilator again. Something wasn’t right with the drip, so I got no medication at all, which led to my body going into complete shock.

My amazing mom moved into the hospital that day due to the poor care I had received the previous night. She refused to go home and slept at the hospital, in the ICU, on a couch, and in my room. At 3 in the morning, they came to draw blood, and I fell asleep again. When I woke up, I couldn’t move my arm, and I realised something was wrong. I told my mom I was struggling to breathe, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe at all. She ran to get doctors to come and help. My diaphragm was paralysed so that I couldn’t breathe at all. It was the closest I came to death. Everything around me went white, and I couldn’t move, I couldn’t hear anything, and

I felt like I had no control. Miraculously they got me back onto a ventilator, and later during the day, it was removed.

Throughout this process, my faith was up and down, but everyone around me prayed with unwavering faith. On the morning of the 19th of January, I was very discouraged because after doing so well, I regressed again, and I didn’t see how I would get out of there. That same morning a lady from my mentoring group sent me a message and explained how she had gone forward for prayer in church; which she had never done before, not even for herself, but that morning when she saw the bottle of oil, she knew she had to respond and go forward to pray for me. She said it was the most amazing experience. After church, she sent me a message saying that she believed the bubbles in the drain would clear (this was a prerequisite for the drains to be removed and for me to get out of ICU). I remember listening to this message and thinking, “Lord, I’m so thankful for what you are doing in her life. I’m so proud of her, but I don’t really believe this because they told me it would take 2-3 weeks for the bubbles in the drain to clear.” I knew it would happen sometime, but I definitely didn’t have the faith for it to happen soon.

Every morning the same doctor came to check on me. She would open the curtains and very enthusiastically say, “How is it going here today? Let’s quickly check the bubbles.” I thought these bubbles would make me lose my mind, but that morning she saw there weren’t any bubbles there.

I couldn’t believe it. I just wanted to cry. This miracle caused others’ faith to be stirred and built up. The next day the bubbles came back, and on the

Photography: Seenbyabi

21st of January, I experienced the next setback. My progress was up and down, and it was so discouraging.

After three weeks, I could finally shower by myself for the first time (it was amazing), but, while doing that, a nurse burst through the door telling me to get out immediately due to another infection that they had picked up on. Right there and then, I thought, “I can’t do this anymore.” I felt like I could die. How was I ever going to get out of there?

Esthea and Marcelle came to visit me. I just sat and cried. They prayed for me and encouraged me. Soon after that, the doctor walked in and explained that it wasn’t an infection, it was something completely different and not that serious, but they drew the blue curtains, and there I had to stay in my little room.

I was quite negative at this stage, and in walked another miracle, a nurse from India (I think) she turned my bed around so I could look at the view and, by doing that, gave me an entirely different perspective. I felt like there was hope and life. She made me aware of my words and what I was saying, constantly reminding me that there is power in my words. Although I know this and have said this to others, it was something that I wasn’t aware I was doing at that time, and there were so many things happening. It challenged me to be mindful of my thoughts and speech.

The next day they removed my drains and moved me to a private room. It felt like I was in a hotel. It was amazing hearing no beeping sounds and being able to shower by myself. Then reality hit me. How was I going to go home? What was this journey going to look like? Marcelle sent me a message

saying, “Don’t let the entire staircase overwhelm you. Just focus on that first step,” This meant so much to me because every day and week was different. I couldn’t look at today and know what next week would be like.

Jesus’ hand was in every day.

As I previously mentioned, I learned to live ‘breath by breath.’ He is there every step/every moment of the day. We just need to go forward and focus on the ‘now’. What can we do now?

On the 26th of January, I went home, and there a whole new journey started. I can talk about that for ages, but a few things that I learnt from the process that I would like to highlight to you is:

1. Pray in the Spirit

Romans 8:26 says, “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times, we don’t even know how to pray or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.”

Everyone around me was praying in the spirit because no one knew exactly what to pray for, but they knew it was time for warfare.

Pray in the spirit because God knows what we don’t. He allows things to happen the way it is supposed to. God is in control of every step and every breath. I am so grateful for those who fought in the spirit for us and kept praying.

2. God’s work on display

I did not see Jesus, and I did not have this heavenly encounter, but many people around me did and

could see God at work…experiencing God doing miracles. This happened to me, but it was God’s incredible plan and His work that He came to do.

3. Gratitude generates Joy

In 2019, someone told me:” Be grateful, Mache, and if you look for the things you are thankful for, you will have joy.” It gave me so much peace.

I’m still not completely sure what the purpose of this whole story is. When I heard someone say, “it’s about intimacy, not fruitfulness.” This deeply impacted me. It’s all about our intimate relationship with God and not about what we do or how we talk, or how my testimony will impact others. I can’t concern myself with that; it’s not my battle. It’s about what God wants to do. My focus should be my intimate relationship with God.

The Lord showed me a picture of a kaleidoscope. I am an “all over the show” kind of person, and I love colour, and I got this promise over my life that God is busy putting all the small pieces together and creating one big amazing picture. In this life, I might not even see the full picture, but while God’s light is shining through this kaleidoscope, He is creating and putting together this beautiful picture that will make a difference for His Kingdom here on earth.

This is my story!

THE RESTORER

To restore - it’s an intentional process, a careful commission… To see - dream.

Have vision for… to see beyond, beneath to uncover what is hidden - what was forgotten.

To restore - it’s patient work…

An interruption of the ordinary - a priority - HIGH on His agenda to transform the unacceptable, the broken, even the “functional” and damaged.

To restore - it’s a prepared work…

A decision to strip it down to bare-bones. A messy process of upheaval, removing layer upon layer that’s been built up over time. Worn. Worn out.

Sometimes even a painful undoing until eventually - rawness - so that He can begin the work of restoration and even then… He works on…and on…and on.

Such care, such attention to detail; He is The Master of His Craft - with excitement in His eyes He stands back - because before Him a better version is underway.

He doesn’t tire, His resources never run dry. He is fully satisfied in His glorious goodness and kindness that behold - His vision is coming to life!

Piece-by-piece, layer-upon-layer He ADDS gazing at every angle, with a rhythm and intentionality to finish what He started.

And then… He puts down his tools. The work is complete.

Time, time - the time was worth it. It was all worth it. He deemed you worthy of His time… His energy and attention. Because - His outcome is better, not just repaired but fully restored from the inside out - ready for a NEW season… Ready to be used, ready to be more. More valuable and valued. He admires his handiwork - excellent. More beautiful.

THE RESTORER…

MEGAN SLABBERT

WEAR

BY MONAH

DOPAMINE DRESSING FOR EVERY WOMAN

You’ve heard about it, you’ve read about it, but have you tried it?

Dopamine, a neurotransmitter, is often referred to as the ‘happy hormone’. Essentially, dopamine dressing is finding joy in the items of clothing you choose to wear.

After the pandemic we’ve seen an influx of colour, colour-blocking and vivid patterns that bring a sense of much needed optimism and joy.

Now I know a lot of you are still sticking to neutrals and monochrome outfits. With this fashion entry, I hope to encourage you to push the limits within your own wardrobe.

to hide from the world and simply blend in? Are you using colour to express your individuality and mood? How and where you add colour to your wardrobe is what defines your personal style. I believe dopamine dressing is for every woman!

Here are some locating questions I like to ask my clients before I start working with them:

1. What have you been wearing in the last week?

2. How have you decided on what to wear? Do you just go for the most comfortable, most neutral item in your wardrobe?

3. Think about what you are wearing right now. Does it make you feel joy? Does it make you feel strong? Or do you rather not want to think about it?

4. And then take all those emotions you have just identified and ask yourself- how does that influence how you see yourself and therefore how you show up in your world?

If you have read through these questions and find yourself frustrated with your answers, have a look at a recent dopamine Style Video I did:

Expressing your individual style through clothing in a way that ‘sparks joy’ is a very personal and powerful tool. Are you using your outfit choices

If you would like to work with me to redefine your style and find your groove, please email me at mohnahstyling@gmail.com

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EAT

BY ANNE GALLOWAY

THAI CHICKEN COCONUT SOUP

This is a one pot wonder. Warm, rich and comforting this is an easy go to mid-week meal that the whole family will love. Serve on top of jasmine rice or rice noodles for a full meal.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 can of coconut milk

• 1 can of chicken broth

• A thumb sized piece of ginger, minced

• 1 stalk of fresh lemongrass, bruise with back of knife

• 500 grams of chicken breast cut to bitesized cubes

METHOD:

• 1 cup sliced mushrooms

• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

• 1 tablespoon fish sauce

• 1 teaspoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon chili paste

• ¼ cup fresh basil leaves

• ¼ cup fresh cilantro

1. In a medium saucepan, combine coconut milk, broth, ginger, and lemongrass and bring to boil over high heat. Add chicken, mushrooms, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar, and chili paste. Reduce heat and simmer until chicken is firm and opaque, 5 to 10 minutes. Discard lemongrass. Garnish servings with basil and cilantro.